No surprise here: It’s excellent and getting better all the time
The latest episode of Microsoft’s excellent Office Garage video series takes a look at Office on mobile devices. Given the steadily-evolving nature of these solutions, this is a good time to take stock and see where we’re at.
As always, you can find the latest episode of Office Garage at microsoft.com/garage.
In the new episode, Office Garage host Jeremy Chapman is joined by Office Mobile senior product manager Guy Gilbert. They explain the various Office and Office 365 solutions that are available today on mobile devices, includingWindows Phone 8, Windows 8/RT, iPhone, iPad, and Android handsets and tablets. It’s an interesting list, and an interesting preview to an article I’m currently writing called Post-PC: Considering Microsoft’s Role.
“Regardless of which device you choose, you’ll be able to stay productive using Office 365,” Chapman notes in the post accompanying the new video. “Over the last few months, we’ve introduced Office Mobile for iPhone, Office Mobile for Android, OWA for iPad, OWA for iPhone as well as updates to apps with OneNote and SkyDrive Pro. In fact, this week we highlight a new feature in SkyDrive Pro that allows iPhone devices to edit Office files directly using Office Mobile for iPhone.”
Here’s the breakdown of what Office solutions are currently available in mobile app form on each of these platforms.
Windows Phone 8. Office Mobile (Word, Excel PowerPoint and OneNote Mobile) and Outlook Mail, Calendar and People (included with platform), SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint Newsfeed, Yammer and Lync.
Windows 8/RT. OneNote, SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint Newsfeed, Yammer and Lync. (Windows 8/RT also includes built-in Mail, Calendar and People apps that are compatible with Office 365, and Windows RT includes a free version of Outlook 2013—not a mobile version—with Outlook 2013.)
iPad. OneNote, OWA, SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint Newsfeed, Yammer and Lync. (Office Web Apps also works very well with iPad.)
iPhone. Office Mobile for iPhone (Word, Excel and PowerPoint Mobile), OneNote, OWA for iPhone, SkyDrive Pro, SharePoint Newsfeed, Yammer and Lync.
Android handsets. Office Mobile for Android (Word, Excel and PowerPoint Mobile), OneNote, Exchange ActiveSync (for Android Email, Calendar and Contacts), Yammer and Lync.
The video doesn’t address Android tablets, though many of the mobile apps Microsoft provides for Android work on those devices too. Also, it’s worth noting, too, that Skype and SkyDrive are available across all of these platforms as well.
Check out the full video for a nice demo that expands quite a list of device types—Windows PCs, Windows Phone, MacBook Air, iPhone and iPad—and of course one of the better Office Garage extreme moments, which involves Microsoft corporate vice president for Office John Case completing a DirtFish Rally challenge using different mobile devices (an Android Phone, iPhone and Windows Phone). Good stuff as always.